For some time now, copy machines have been capable of automatically reproducing images that are displayed on surfaces such as paper. A typical copy machine includes a scanning module and a printing module. The scanning module is capable of generating data based on images that are displayed on a surface. Inversely, the printing module is capable of generating images, based on data, and permanently displaying those images on a surface. A copy machine may also include a raster image processor that receives image data and rasterizes the image data for output to a printing module. By feeding, into a printing module, data that was generated by a scanning module, a copy machine can reproduce an image that is displayed on a surface. The task of reproducing images that are displayed on one or more surfaces may be referred to as a “copy job.”
A copy job may involve more than the mere reproduction of images onto surfaces. A copy job may also involve specified manipulations of those images and surfaces. For example, a user of a copy machine may specify that reproduced pages be stapled, punched with holes, and/or bound together with rings or some other binding mechanism.
Some copy machines may provide functions that other copy machines do not provide. A person desiring to make use of functions provided only by certain copy machines is required to locate an available one of those copy machines. Information regarding the availability, functionality, and locations of copy machines can be difficult to obtain. Even when such information can be obtained, it may be outdated and inaccurate.
For example, a person may call numerous shops that are listed in an area telephone book before finding a shop that has a copy machine that can punch and staple papers. The personnel at the called shops may be relatively uninformed as to shop resources. Some of the telephone numbers may not even be correct. Eventually, if the person is lucky, he may locate a shop within reasonable distance that has a copy machine that provides desired functions.
Upon arriving at the shop, the person may discover, to his frustration, that, immediately before his arrival, the needed copy machine broke or became occupied by someone else who planned to use the copy machine for a long period of time. Meanwhile, other copy machines, at the shop or even at the location that the person departed from, sit idle because they cannot provide the desired functions. Moreover, despite their ability to provide one or more of the desired functions of the unavailable copy machine, other available resources, such as some printers, may also remain unused because they lack any mechanism to scan a copy job.
One potential solution to the problem is for the person to obtain for himself a copy machine that provides all of the desired functions. However, such a solution is frequently not economical. Additionally, due to changing technology, even the most sophisticated copy machines eventually become obsolete. Furthermore, such a solution wastes a sufficient scanning module of a copy machine that does not provide all of the desired functions.
Based on the need to more easily access resources that provide desired functions, a copy machine that automatically locates and shares resources that currently provide specified functions is highly desirable.